This application requests funds for the purchase of a Waters Micromass Liquid Chromatograph Quattro Premier Tandem Quadrupole Mass Spectrometry System (LC/MS/MS) for use by a group of 5 NIH- supported investigators at Cook College of Rutgers University. The purchase of this instrument along with institutional support from Rutgers University will allow for the establishment of a core facility that will provide analytical support for the NIH-funded research of this investigator group (and for others from within and outside of Rutgers University). All of the funded research of this group of investigators is focused on lipid metabolism and actions and the role of lipids in maintaining optimal health and preventing disease. Intra- and extracellular lipids are important factors in many chronic diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, cancer, stroke, arthritis, and Alzheimer's disease and the research of our investigator group ultimately is aimed at understanding many of these diseases. The LC/MS/MS and the core facility housing it will provide the capability to carry out very sensitive qualitative and quantitative analyses of lipids and their bioactive metabolites in cells, tissues and other experimental samples. Additionally, the LC/MS/MS will allow for the undertaking of stable isotope tracer kinetic studies in cultured cells and animal models to identify functionally distinct lipid pools and to investigate how lipids are channeled metabolically to specific bioactive or inactive end products. These uses will benefit significantly the research capacity of our NIH-funded user group and will allow for increased understanding of how lipids act in maintaining good health and pathologically in disease. There are no comparable instruments at Rutgers University that are available for this research. [unreadable] [unreadable]